Building a PC and I have some basic questions

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm going to post some questions throughout this process on building the PC.  I have little/no experience doing this thing and want to make sure I do it right the first time.

I got some bonus monies for work this year so I decided (along with getting a new apartment with a 50 Mbps connection) to build a PC.  The purpose is a high end gaming rig but something that will allow to me to do a bunch of shit with homework when I go back to school for a masters degree.  I've been so used to dual monitor rigs at work that I'm going to do the same for this.

My overall budget is $2000 but not to exceed $2500.

I've been doing some preliminary research and I think I will get one of the Core i7 processors that run for about $300.  The extreme version is over $1000 and well, fuck that.  I also saw Asus 24" monitors running for $180 on Newegg so they're apparently cheaper than what I thought.

First question is that I came across this guide http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html and was wondering if it was any good.  Seems to have some good information and some links for component comparisons.  It seems simple enough for me to use but I didn't know if it was missing any pertinent information.

Thanks!

[Great Rumbler]

Tom's Hardware is a good place to start.

[Smooth Groove]

Make sure not to be cheap on the motherboard, case and power supply.  Upgrading is a bitch when you don't get those right the first time. 

[demi]

Yea, go all out on the motherboard. Better to be ready, plus all the tinier parts are a simple swap.

[pilonv1]

Make sure not to be cheap on the motherboard, case and power supply.  Upgrading is a bitch when you don't get those right the first time. 

I'm learning that from my last PC build. I didn't go cheap on the motherboard but I could have paid $30 more and got a better featured one. Same with my PSU, I went with a 550w+ and would have preferred to get at least 650 now. As it stands my next upgrade will need a mobo+psu as well as CPU

[MCD]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417014

See Falcon's chart + the pictures with the parts/prices here.

For a great, future ready motherboard, go for the Asus Republic of Gamers ones.

My rig is all AMD but if you are going Intel why not pick Intel I5-2500k? Everyone seems to get that one.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Bump but I think I finally got what I wanted:

Sound card: ASUS PCI 5.1 Channel Xonar DG - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JHJSS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3HXWER1CPLV7Q
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K
Optical: Samsung 12xBD/DVD combo - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XIM3QK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A23NVCSO4PYH3S
Power Supply: Corsair 850AX - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PJ6QW4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
RAM - Corsair 16 GB (4x4) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
HD: Samsung F4 2 TB - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042SGDVG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A1729W3053T57N
GPU: 3 GB GTX580 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YJVUBG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Motherboard - ASUS Sabretooth x58 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00407ZUUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXSA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Case: Cooler Master Full Tower - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S68Q0Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Any thoughts on this setup?  Thanks.

[MCD]

Why do you need that soundcard with your motherboard built in one:

Audio: Integrated Realtek ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC

I say replace it with a nice SSD for Windows partition.

[Vizzys]

asus makes solid soundcards
gonna want these tho: http://brainbit.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Why do you need that soundcard with your motherboard built in one:

Audio: Integrated Realtek ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC

I say replace it with a nice SSD for Windows partition.

Thanks for the good catch.  Changed it out with an Intel 120 GB SSD

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U8ZHY2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Madrun Badrun]

using this thread for my own stupid question

will this be able to play HD movies or will I be looking at a slide show if I try?
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=807394&CatId=4962

[G The Resurrected]

using this thread for my own stupid question

will this be able to play HD movies or will I be looking at a slide show if I try?
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=807394&CatId=4962

Slideshow for most codecs. Going for size or cost? For that much your almost better off just holding out for the current gen tablets to drop in price.

[Pringo]

Bump but I think I finally got what I wanted:

Sound card: ASUS PCI 5.1 Channel Xonar DG - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JHJSS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3HXWER1CPLV7Q
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K
Optical: Samsung 12xBD/DVD combo - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XIM3QK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A23NVCSO4PYH3S
Power Supply: Corsair 850AX - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PJ6QW4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
RAM - Corsair 16 GB (4x4) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
HD: Samsung F4 2 TB - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042SGDVG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A1729W3053T57N
GPU: 3 GB GTX580 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YJVUBG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Motherboard - ASUS Sabretooth x58 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00407ZUUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXSA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Case: Cooler Master Full Tower - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S68Q0Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Any thoughts on this setup?  Thanks.

I have some other stuff to add in a bit but that motherboard WILL NOT work with the processor you chose. You want LGA1155 not LGA1366.

[Madrun Badrun]

cost.  I want something to watch tv on while I run on a treadmill downstairs and something for my mom to use the internet.

[Madrun Badrun]

ya you want this MB instead
http://www.amazon.com/SABERTOOTH-P67-REV-3-0-Motherboard/dp/B004K330KK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1326062380&sr=1-1

I own it as well

[fistfulofmetal]

when buying PC parts - should probably be using newegg.

better selection, more information for sorting/comparing.

[duckman2000]

Unless you're going to be doing heavy stuff like serious video, 16GB is probably overkill. More is usually better, but given how often sticks of RAM go out, I'd go for the least amount of sticks needed.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I switched out the motherboard.  Thanks for the catch.

Unless you're going to be doing heavy stuff like serious video, 16GB is probably overkill. More is usually better, but given how often sticks of RAM go out, I'd go for the least amount of sticks needed.

My intention is to build a PC that will run great in 3 years time from purchase.

[Pringo]

Bump but I think I finally got what I wanted:

Sound card: ASUS PCI 5.1 Channel Xonar DG - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045JHJSS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3HXWER1CPLV7Q
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K
Optical: Samsung 12xBD/DVD combo - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XIM3QK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A23NVCSO4PYH3S
Power Supply: Corsair 850AX - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PJ6QW4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
RAM - Corsair 16 GB (4x4) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
HD: Samsung F4 2 TB - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042SGDVG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A1729W3053T57N
GPU: 3 GB GTX580 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YJVUBG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Motherboard - ASUS Sabretooth x58 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00407ZUUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXSA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Case: Cooler Master Full Tower - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S68Q0Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Any thoughts on this setup?  Thanks.

Okay thoughts.

Sound Card: Cheap sound cards are kind of redundant unless you have a specific purpose for it that integrated sound won't handle. I'd get rid of it personally if you don't have a specific reason for it.

Heatsink: Looks fine. You could probably go with a liquid cooled CPU cooler for a bit more with your $2000+ budget if you really wanted to. Either choice would be fine.

Optical Drive: Looks fine. If you're going for a Blu-Ray drive I'd probably spend the extra $20 or however much on a Blu-Ray burner just for the sake of having one.

Power Supply: Looks fine. Enough wattage, good brand, and modular are all the things you should be looking for which you have in the one you chose. You could maybe get away with less wattage if you really wanted to try to save some money but I don't know exactly how much you need so I'm not going to suggest it.

RAM: 16 GB is overkill unless you're doing really memory intensive work but RAM is so cheap these days I'd say just go with it. If you really want to save the extra $40 or however much bump it down to 8 GB.

HDD: Samsung is a good HDD brand but if you're planning on putting the OS or a lot of programs on this I'd probably want to get a faster 7200 RPM drive. HDD prices are kinda fucked right now due to the flooding in Thailand though so all your choices are much more expensive than they really should be. If you decide to get an SSD with this build as well this drive is probably fine.

GPU: Looks fine.

Motherboard: As already said you want LGA1155 not LGA1366. The one Arvie posted looks good. Also if you do get an SSD I think you can get extra HDD speed with a Z68 board but I'm not exactly an expert on how that stuff works.

CPU: The 2500K is a better price/performance buy but the 2600K is faster and has hyperthreading. Really up to you if the extra money for the 2600K is worth it as the 2500K will handle anything that doesn't take advantage of more than four cores just about as well. Alternatively you could spend a bit more and get the slightly faster 2700K. Note: if this is not an urgent build you could also wait for Ivy Bridge in Q2 although you'd want to change some other parts around if you do that.

Case: The HAF X seems to be pretty well regarded but personally I wouldn't buy it just because I think it's kinda ugly. I'd go with a Corsair or Lian Li case myself (I have a Corsair 650D right now and I'd get the 800D if money and space weren't issues). I realize this is subjective though so get whatever you want.

SSD: If you do go this route the Intel 320 you posted earlier is a good choice.

Lastly, do check out Newegg as well as Amazon at least for price checking purposes.

[Great Rumbler]

RAM's so cheap that there's really no reason not to go a little overboard, but I doubt anything other than top-end video editing will use more than 8GB anytime within the next five years.

[pilonv1]

I've got a Xonar DG, for my AD-700 headphones since it supports Dolby Headphone. It's a neat little card.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

,,,

Thanks a lot for your help.  I made the recommended changes and ordered everything so I should get it within the next week or so.

[fistfulofmetal]

re: CASE

buy this case:
http://www.corsair.com/pc-cases/graphite-series-pc-case/graphite-series-600t.html




it's a mid-size but it's the biggest midsize you're going to get. there's so much room in this fucking thing, seriously. and it's so easy to take a part and maneuver inside. please get this case because it's amazing

[Madrun Badrun]

that is sexy

[Pringo]

re: CASE

buy this case:
http://www.corsair.com/pc-cases/graphite-series-pc-case/graphite-series-600t.html

http://www.corsair.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/6/0/600t_update_2.png
http://reviews-tests.com/computer_cases/Corsair/600T_CC600T/Corsair_600T_CC600T_open_case.png

it's a mid-size but it's the biggest midsize you're going to get. there's so much room in this fucking thing, seriously. and it's so easy to take a part and maneuver inside. please get this case because it's amazing

iirc the 600T is pretty much exactly the same as the 650D internally. It's just a matter if you prefer the rounded or monolithic look more (or want a white case).

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Built most of it today.  A very frustrating process as nothing is really explained.  Nevertheless, I built most everything but making everything connect.  There's a lot to connect to but I don't see shit for where to connect anything on the motherboard.

[demi]

It should specify right there on the motherboard, they usually have some small lettering.

[Madrun Badrun]

Ya I found my first time to be frustrating as well.  Not because it was really hard but because I was scared of screwing up something that I payed so much for.  Manuals are helpful for figuring out where to put what where.

[Phoenix Dark]

Built most of it today.  A very frustrating process as nothing is really explained.  Nevertheless, I built most everything but making everything connect.  There's a lot to connect to but I don't see shit for where to connect anything on the motherboard.

aren't you an engineer? engineer that shit, yo

(the hardest part for me was all the little wires that go into the mobo. Like, LED light wires and shit like that)

[Cormacaroni]

Didn't the motherboard come with a manual?

The best way to build a PC in my experience is to have another PC opened up alongside it. You can use that as a guide for connections, and swap in/out parts that you think might be defective.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm just going to pay someone to finish the rest.  Fuck it.

[MCD]

Should have done that from the start. We rich people have no time for assembling such bullshit.

[Tasty]

Are you guys really having a hard time putting a PC together? It's like, Legos.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

It doesn't seem difficult, I just don't feel like spending an arm and a leg for components that I broke while assembling.

[cool breeze]

what are you having trouble with? or is it a general annoyance? I'm sure people here know the answer and there are guides online to help.

connecting everything isn't too bad these days (it was a lot worse in the past).  the main annoyance is cord management, depending on how much you care about organization and air flow.

also, first time you try to install ram can feel like you're breaking it.  Assuming you have it in the right direction, you need to push on it with a decent amount of force for it to click.

[benjipwns]

connecting everything isn't too bad these days (it was a lot worse in the past).

I built a computer in 2008 for the first time in like five or six years. I couldn't believe how much shit was color coded and properly labeled.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

what are you having trouble with? or is it a general annoyance? I'm sure people here know the answer and there are guides online to help.

connecting everything isn't too bad these days (it was a lot worse in the past).  the main annoyance is cord management, depending on how much you care about organization and air flow.

also, first time you try to install ram can feel like you're breaking it.  Assuming you have it in the right direction, you need to push on it with a decent amount of force for it to click.

Cord management.  There's so much shit going on in there that I'm wondering whether I'm hooking things up correctly or not.  It didn't take long at all to build everything on the motherboard, mount the motherboard to the case, etc.  It's the SATA type stuff that is throwing me off.  The LED stuff was easy.

Edit: I'm not saying that the manuals suck or that building a PC isn't babby easy, I'm just a tightass who wants to make sure that I'm not squandering $2000 because I fucked up the installation.  Also, I'm a pussy.

[Great Rumbler]

Hard-drive <-> SATA cable <-> SATA plug on motherboard

There's really nothing to it.

[Phoenix Dark]

The SATA stuff is very straight forward. When I built my computer I was more worried about stuff like connecting the heat sink to the mobo. The Intel one I got was hard as hell to connect, and I kept freaking out I'd break the mobo if I put too much pressure on it.

[Madrun Badrun]

ya power supply to all the components and heatsink were my main concerns.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

The power cables are an annoyance.

Either way, I'm going to pussy out and pay some dude $100 or some shit for a few minutes work.  I'll smh at myself for spending this money on something that would have taken me minutes and then move on.

[Madrun Badrun]

What kind of engineer are you again?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

A lazy one

[Phoenix Dark]

The Experiment: thanks you're a life saver. Here's $100
Geeks Squad Dude: thanks man, yea this stuff can be tough. Not everyone is an engineer ya know
The Experiment: ....actually I only have $50 on me

[cool breeze]

The SATA stuff is very straight forward. When I built my computer I was more worried about stuff like connecting the heat sink to the mobo. The Intel one I got was hard as hell to connect, and I kept freaking out I'd break the mobo if I put too much pressure on it.

The stock Intel heat sink sucked.  Really wimpy and it uses cheap clips instead of screws.  Most heat sinks you buy separately can screw on and it's something to do before you install the motherboard.  Though the heat sink I have now uses clips too because I installed it a week after I put together everything else.  It's probably not bad if you don't overclock or anything.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I hated those clips as well.  It felt cheap and felt like I had to break the motherboard to put them in.

The Experiment: thanks you're a life saver. Here's $100
Geeks Squad Dude: thanks man, yea this stuff can be tough. Not everyone is an engineer ya know
The Experiment: ....actually I only have $50 on me

 

[demi]

Slaves over engineering school for $100,000






Pays next door neighbor $100 to build PC

[fistfulofmetal]

dont feel bad, i spent a dude some money to fix my first pc build.

the next one i did myself by just comparing what i had vs. what i was building.

[Cormacaroni]

Once I learned that I could harness the mightiest geeks of Akihabara to build PCs for me, I never looked back. Their shit is bulletproof.

[Tasty]

Putting together a specs list for a new PC I'll be building in about a month, what say you Borians? Will it all fit together? I wonder most about the motherboard.

[MCD]

Western Digital 500 GB

Come on now, Andrex.

1TB or GTFO.

[Tasty]

Last October I put a 1 TB drive there but since then it shot up $100 and I couldn't find any 1 TB ones on NE for around that price.

[MCD]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that Tsunami. :[

How about going SSD only for now? Just for your Windows OS then get a fat HDD later on.

[cool breeze]

yeah, a smaller SSD and main OS drive and larger ones later for whatever content is a good plan.

I need to do that soon, plus get another 1 tera hd for storage because of all the damn steam sales.

[Phoenix Dark]

I was going to buy an external hd but the price increase of late 2011 turned me off; I'll get one soon though. My hd holds about 200gb lol, and I've had it for ages; it's from my old Emachines comp.

[cool breeze]

that reminds me, is there any free software for watching blu-ray on your PC? I have a blu-ray drive from an old PC but it doesn't just run with CCCP/MPCHC like everything else

[Tasty]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that Tsunami. :[

How about going SSD only for now? Just for your Windows OS then get a fat HDD later on.

How would I do that? Does Windows have a way to manage that stuff?

[benjipwns]

You can just install or move everything to a different hard drive...

[Vizzys]

that reminds me, is there any free software for watching blu-ray on your PC? I have a blu-ray drive from an old PC but it doesn't just run with CCCP/MPCHC like everything else

http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

does what you need for 21 days or forever

[Tasty]

You can just install or move everything to a different hard drive...

Oh.

Duh.